The Japanese constitution—ironically imposed at US behest after World War II—states that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained." Now Japanese warships participate in US military maneuvers in the Pacific. From AFP, June 22, via Spacewar:

A US warship successfully shot down a target missile warhead over the Pacific Thursday in a test of a sea-based missile defense system, the US military said. A Japanese destroyer performed surveillance and tracking exercises during the test, marking the first time any US ally has taken part in a US missile defense intercept test, the US Missile Defense Agency said.

From AFP, June 7 via Spacewar:

A new world war involving nuclear weapons may have already begun, Malaysia's former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday, warning that an attack on Iran would be disastrous.

Having heretofore run only a photo with a caption, the New York Times today finally takes note of the labor strife and deadly repression in Oaxaca (albeit on page 6). Isn't it interesting, though, that rare accounts in the mainstream gringo press of the growing unrest in Mexico either mention the strike in Oaxaca or the Zapatista tour—but almost never both. Usually, the coverage of the Zapatitas implies (or baldly states) that they are forgotten and irrelevant. Also generally forgotten by the gringo press is the Atenco crisis, another focus of national attention which has radically eroded the state's credibility. In the run-up to next month's presidential race, the Zapatistas are arguably closer than ever to acheiving their long goal of a national civil revolutionary movement. But you'd never know it by reading norteamericano newspapers.

From Mexico's El Universal, June 21, via Chiapas95:

Arrest warrants issued for 23 officers

A top State of Mexico judge issued arrest warrants for 23 police officers who stand accused of abuse and use of excessive force during unrest in San Salvador Atenco last month.

This Reuters story that ran in the Washington Post June 19 (online at Chiapas95) is typical of the hegemonic mainstream media line (north of the border, at least) that the Zapatistas have shot their wad and are forgotten. (Amazing that we periodically have to be reminded like this that they are forgotten.) Cynically, the piece mentions nothing about the conflict over San Salvador Atenco or the labor unrest in Oaxaca—struggles which have assumed center stage in Mexico, and have been thoroughly integrated into the demands and mobilizations of the Zapatistas' national tour, the "Other Campaign." Contrary to this story's implication, the Zapatistas' "demands" were never just about indigenous autonomy. That was but the first of several "dialogue tables" planned in the long-stalled peace process. The government's intransigence in approving these first accords (on indigenous autonomy), meant that the subsequent "tables"—on agrarian reform, education, labor and general democratic rights—have languished for nearly ten years now. Nor were the accords on indigenous autonomy only about Chiapas state—they were meant to apply throughout Mexico. The piece does, however, raise the important point that, while the Zapatistas now occupy the public eye in Mexico City, their stronghold of southern, impoverished Chiapas has been paradoxically forgotten—even as violence escalates there.

This online debate between John Ross and Al Giordano, two veteran alterno-journalists who have long covered the Zapatista movement in Mexico, is a bit incestuous (and certainly long-winded), as well as self-important and catty. But it does shed some interesting light on the political questions surrounding the Zapatistas' "Other Campaign," the rebels' latest and most ambitious effort to launch a national civil revolutionary movement. It also raises some important questions about the role of alternative media in general. From Giordano's Narco News Bulletin, June 19:

From the New York Daily News, June 21:

Schoolgirl killed by SUV

A 5-year-old Brooklyn girl running to catch her school bus was rammed and killed by an SUV yesterday after darting out from behind two parked cars, police said.

The US, it seems, barely has control of its own proxy forces in Iraq. From AP, June 22:

Two California soldiers shot to death in Iraq were murdered by Iraqi civil-defense officers patrolling with them, military investigators have found.